I recently had a new patient referral to my San Leandro Chiropractic Clinic from my old patient. This particular case is worth sharing with the world. It proves in theory and in practice one more time that chiropractic care is beneficial for patients who have unstable blood pressure. I believe that this patient is also suffering from benign paroxysmal positional vertigo as well. Symptoms include extreme dizziness when bringing the head forward or laying face down.
This patient is a fifty years plus young female who had worked for a software company for about nine years. Her daily job duties required prolonged sitting hours in front of the computer, sometimes between ten to twelve hours a day. It is a scientific fact that the worse position for a spine is in a sitting position. There is an increased load on a supporting soft tissue of the lumbar spine. As a result the entire spine is being affected by this biomechanical imbalance, which leads to many physiological changes in the way body is being controlled and regulated by our nervous system.
This patient has been treated by workers compensation insurance for her wrist injuries for a very prolonged period of time. That is also a very common problem for people who have to use excessive keyboard entry every day. Our hands just not design to do this type of work. Perhaps thousand years from now our wrists will be able to adopt and people will have less wrist injuries. It appears that computers do not go anywhere any time soon.
During examination I found out that this lady has seen five different specialists who were not able to resolve her problem. Medical Doctor prescribed blood pressure pills, neurologist prescribed vertigo pills and referred patient to an ENT (Ear Nose Throat) specialist, acupuncture had no benefit at all for this particular case, and several sessions of physical therapy were unsuccessful. Her X-RAY report revealed severe osteoarthritis in C5-C6 vertebral levels. MRI of the blood vessels and brain was negative for any pathology whatsoever. That MRI report was a big help as it ruled out the cardiovascular involvement as a cause of high blood pressure. During farther examination of the spine I have found out that her C1 vertebral level on a right side was tenders to palpation and was subluxated or misaligned. Many would wonder what does a misaligned vertebral bone have to do with a blood pressure ? To your surprise the answer is very simple. Vagus nerve which is a cranial nerve X continues its path from a brainstem down to a spianal cord and all the way to a sacral plexus via Atlas or C1 vertebral foramena (opening). When C1 or Atlas vertebral body is subluxated or misaligned it might compress the Vagus nerve which will be the cause of unstable Blood Pressure and many other symptoms if not taken care on time.
The vagus nerve and the heart from Wikipedia:
Fibres of the vagus nerve (right/bottom of image) innervate the sinoatrial node tissue (central and left of image). H&E stain.
Parasympathetic innervation of the heart is controlled by the vagus nerve. Specifically, the vagus nerve acts to lower the heart rate. The right vagus innervates the sinoatrial node. Parasympathetic hyperstimulation predisposes those affected to bradyarrhythmias. The left vagus when hyperstimulated predisposes the heart to atrioventricular (AV) blocks.
At this location neuroscientist Otto Loewi first proved that nerves secrete substances called neurotransmitters which have effects on receptors in target tissues. Loewi described the substance released by the vagus nerve as vagusstoff, which was later found to be acetylcholine. Drugs that inhibit the muscarinic cholinergic receptor (anticholinergics) such as atropine and scopolamine are called vagolytic because they inhibit the action of the vagus nerve on the heart, gastrointestinal tract and other organs. Anticholinergic drugs increase heart rate and are used to treat bradycardia (slow heart rate) and asystole, which is when the heart has no electrical activity.
That day I have adjusted patient’s C1 vertebrae on a right side, thoracic and lumbar vertebral levels. She also received some physicals therapy modalities as well as light massage therapy from my CMT. I have informed the patient that it might take several hours for the therapy to take effect. This session was on Friday and I have asked the patient to email me over the weekend regarding the results. On Sunday this lady stated in her email that her blood pressure has normalized and was very stable after Friday’s session. This particular case of high blood pressure was caused by neurological imbalance and had great result with chiropractic care. There many other causes of high blood pressure: genetic predisposition, lack of exercises, overweight, poor diet. and stress. If you would like to know how to lower your blood pressure naturally without drugs please read this “The High Blood Pressure Remedy Report.” (affiliate link)
My patient has also mentioned that her Vertigo has improved a little but it is still there. In my opinion the cause of the vertigo is in her middle ear and Cranial Nerve VIII. Also the entire right side of her skull around cranial sutures is very painful to touch. I will do farther investigation and will provide the results in one of my blog posts.
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